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Sweden’s Social Democratic party leader Magdalena Andersson said Tuesday she had failed to form a government with the three other parties in the left-wing bloc following last month’s election.
“My overall assessment is that progress has been made, but at the same time, the conditions are currently not in place to form a government that can be tolerated by the parliament,” Andersson told a press conference.
She spoke after reporting back to parliament speaker Andreas Norlen, who had tasked her with gauging conditions to form a government after the September 13 elections.
Shortly after Andersson’s announcement, Norlen told a separate press conference that parliament would still be asked to vote on whether to make her prime minister.
Norlen said there had been agreement from the beginning that Andersson’s talks on forming a government “would conclude with a prime ministerial vote regardless of how the exploratory talks had gone”.
The speaker said a vote would be scheduled for Thursday, while conceding that Andersson would likely fail to be voted in as premier.
After that vote, Norlen said he would speak to the party leader once again to reassess who the next candidate should be.
Sweden’s centre-left opposition bloc won 176 seats in parliament, versus 173 for outgoing Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s right-wing bloc, which includes the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, in the September 13 election.
In Andersson’s bloc, the Centre Party has said it will oppose a government that includes cabinet posts for the Left Party, which has in turn insisted it will only support a left-wing government of which it is a member.
Under the Swedish system, a prime minister can secure office so long as a majority in parliament does not vote against them.
Norlen first tasked Andersson with starting government talks on September 18, but she gave up on September 28, after failing to unite the three other parties in her group due to deep ideological differences.
With no apparent changes in the parties’ positions, Andersson was tasked with trying again.
After Andersson’s attempt, Norlen is expected to assign the task to Kristersson, who currently leads a caretaker government.
Speaking to reporters, Norlen said he considered Kristersson a natural candidate but the speaker did not wish to commit to that too soon and would “respect the process.”
Kristersson would need to convince an opposition party to support him or at least not vote against him.
The speaker of parliament has four attempts at proposing a prime minister for parliament to vote on. If the fourth attempt fails, a snap election must be called.
Additional sources • AFP